Monthly Roundup: July Favorites
July feels like it was both two days long and three months long. It flew by and dragged on simultaneously.
I’m not complaining; it was a fantastic month, even though it’s been hot and humid basically every day.
July was a month of projects both big and small and as we head into August, I’m sad that the summer is already coming to a close, yet excited that my favorite season is right around the corner. (Don’t worry, though; I’m not rushing fall to get here yet. We still are loving all things summer over here!!) Here are a few of my favorites from the month.
Disclaimer: A few of my monthly favorites mention pregnancy.
{ONE} Gender Reveal Party
Before I was pregnant, I thought gender reveal parties were lame. Sorry, but it’s true. It seemed a bit ridiculous to me to have a giant party just to find out if the baby was a boy or girl. So when I found out I was pregnant, I knew I didn’t want to find out the gender by popping a balloon in front of family and friends. Luke and I found out the gender privately through a blood test and it was fun knowing the gender without anyone else knowing. I love any excuse to host people, though, so we decided to throw a gender reveal party of sorts for our families. I honestly recommend doing this; it was so fun planning the party when we already knew the result.
We hosted a barbecue/cookout during 4th of July weekend, so technically it wasn’t a gender reveal party. More like, a 4th of July cookout with a gender reveal thrown in. Luke baked cupcakes and put pink icing in the middle then decorated half with blue icing and the other half with pink icing. People could “pick a side” (Team Boy or Team Girl) based on the cupcake they chose. Some people arrived wearing the color they thought the baby would be (e.g., blue or pink). We gathered everyone around and they bit into the cupcakes to see the true reveal (pink!). And since I’m a sucker for a good picture and “Kodak moment,” we also ordered two pink poppers to pop on Amazon to celebrate the moment. It was a fun and laid-back way to celebrate Baby Girl complete with classic cookout foods, drinks, and fireworks.
{TWO} The Guest Room/Home Office Project
I’ll dedicate an entire blog post to this project eventually, but my pink home office is in its final days (sigh). We are making my current home office room into the nursery and moving my office into the guest room. With this change comes the opportunity to rethink the guest room/office space to make it more functional and dual-purpose. Here is what our guest room looked like before the construction began. As you can see, it’s a small (“cozy”) room, so making the most of the limited space is crucial. I’m so excited to show you the final results, because we’ve been channeling our inner HGTV and thinking outside of the box with this one. Once I’ve officially transitioned into the new space, we’ll pivot and work on decorating the nursery! (Don’t worry, that will also get its own blog post eventually, too.)
{THREE} Bookstore Musings
A few weeks ago, I decided to have a mini self-care day since I had the day off of work and it was very hot outside. The real reason I went to the mall was to buy some maternity dresses because your girl has popped and I’m trying to embrace and style this changing body of mine. I stopped in Barnes & Noble because I had a gift card and enjoyed the slowness of wandering the aisles, flipping through books that caught my eye, and exploring sections that I usually skip altogether. I ended up adding a few books to my ever-growing TBR (to be read) stack, but it reminded me that sometimes, it’s simple pleasures like walking through a bookstore that bring you joy.
{FOUR} 101 in 1,001 Days Wrap Up
My 101 in 1,001 Days challenge ended this month! I’m in the process of writing my new one (which will start sometime in August), but it’s been fun slowly checking things off of the list I’ve kept since 2019. Here are the tasks I FINALLY checked off this month:
Framed my college degree
Organized & decluttered photos and albums (this took HOURS but was very satisfying)
Walked 10,000 steps a day/week (it was harder than I thought it’d be!)
Sent someone a care package just because
Did 50 pushups at once (I struggled through this one, not going to lie)
Created a wedding album. While organizing photos, I realized I had already printed a lot of wedding photos already so I just compiled them into an album for now.
{FIVE} Blueberry ICEEs
I’ve got to call out blueberry ICEEs this month because they taste so good and I forgot how delicious they are. I haven’t had one in years but on the way home from the beach one day, Luke and I stopped at Wawa for ICEEs and it just hit the spot. Amazing.
{SIX} Family Beach Vacation
My family spent a week in Ocean City, Maryland this month for the traditional beach vacation. Luke and I were able to go for a few days and it was fun cramming some favorite things into the short time we were there. Zach and I continued our annual sunrise and Dunkin run tradition. We woke up at 5:30 a.m., watched the sun rise above the ocean, then literally ran to Dunkin for coffee and donuts. Thankfully, the run wasn’t very long (about half a mile) because I’m sure seeing a pregnant lady running/waddling down the street was a sight! Our fam also went mini golfing, ate donuts from Fractured Prune, got ice cream at Dumsers, watched movies, and (of course) spent lots of time on the beach. It’s always such a fun time and I’m glad we were able to go for at least part of the week!